Phil Taylor: The King of darts – is he back?
It is not Mervyn King I am talking about. When in darts, you refer to the ‘King’, there is just one name that immediately pops up in everyone’s mind.
A name even a layman with no apparent interest in darts comes up with. He is the 15-time champion of darts and a king who is actually known as ‘the Power’.
Cutting the sequence of surprise and speculations, it is none other than Phil Taylor. The USP of this player is that he is not just a great darts player. He is a greater human being than a darts player.
It is precisely the reason why he has been blessed overwhelmingly. However, the last couple of events have not been as good for Taylor as he had expected.
It all started with an astounding defeat that ‘the power’ had against Dave Chisnall at Ladbrokes.
Not only for Taylor but for all his fans, his knock out in the very first stage of the tournament came as the biggest jolt for all viewers of darts.
There was news prior to the beginning of the event that Taylor had introduced some remarkable changes in his diet plan, especially for the event, but unfortunately none of that seemed to materialise.
Experts and pundits said that maybe it was aging effects due to which Taylor was losing his grip and nerve on the game. He knew he had to perform well, but he just could not.
Right at the moment when he saw someone else taking the lead and then increasing arrears, he ended up losing his grip on the game.
It was precisely the reason why he was not able to perform up to the benchmark that he himself had established in his game.
In this entire scenario, one particular feature which is important to understand is that his popularity graph did not slump, nor did it rattle even slightly.
He was and remained the best player of darts. Even after losing the opportunity of grabbing the World Champion title, he was still awarded with the BBC Sports Person of the Year Award.
His next challenge came in the form of World Cup of Darts. He had the opportunity of pairing up with the reigning champion Adrian Lewis to represent England.
Even with a capable partner, Taylor could still not get rid of the pressure and had to face a defeat at the hands of an amateur Canadian player.
With Lewis on the other end, they were collectively able to deliver a performance that was mandatory for English darts players not only to secure victory in the event, but also to keep Englan’s flames of glory in darts kindling.
Once done with the World Cup, Lewis and Taylor announced that they will be treating each other as opponents once again.
With the Premier League arriving at his disposal, it was important for Taylor to regain his momentum in the most effective way possible.
He wanted his form back and he did grab it back. In his campaign opening match against Lewis he, instead of Lewis proving to be the comeback King, emerged right from the rubble of defeat to actually show the world the return of Phil Taylor.
‘The power’ hopes to get back in total form before the beginning of the O2 Event, which will once again feature the top notch of darts in the event.
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